War on Christmas Erupts In July on 'The View' as Whoopi Goldberg Calls It a 'BS Debate'

That's the question that sparked the first debate of the day on "The View," after President Donald Trump declared a victory in the never-ending "War on Christmas" at a rally in Tampa on Tuesday.

"Remember the attack on Merry Christmas? They're not attacking it anymore," he exclaimed. "Everyone's happy to say 'Merry Christmas,' right? And that's because only because of our campaign."

While everyone on the panel was confused as to why he brought up this battle in the middle of summer, Meghan McCain said it's a topic that appeals to his base.

"The 'War on Christmas' -- and I worked at Fox [News] for years -- the 'War on Christmas' is a real siren song to people on the right," she explained. "It means there's an assault on saying 'Merry Christmas' and Christian beliefs in the country ... it is something that people on the right really really think is a big thing. It's a playing to the base siren."

Joy Behar wondered why his supporters are "obsessed" with something like this, but not the "war on the press, the war on immigrants, the war on democracy," before Sunny Hostin asked whether this "war" was even "real."

That's when Whoopi Goldberg stepped up to the plate, explaining that she says "Happy Holidays" to anyone whose beliefs she doesn't already know. "That's a more inclusive way" to greet someone, agreed Sunny.

"That's the siren song though," interjected McCain. "If you say Merry Christmas, you're not inclusive, you're not tolerant ... that again, this is already riling us even here. I say 'Merry Christmas,' I don't think I'm an intolerant person."

"Even here right now, just the mention of saying it's more inclusive to say 'Happy Holidays,' I don't think I'm not inclusive," she continued. "I think I'm a Christian, I celebrate Christmas and I would like to wish 'Merry Christmas' to everyone, and no one's ever been offended, at least to my face."

While Whoopi agreed that most people aren't offended by the greeting, she doesn't believe she should be forced to say "Merry Christmas" and nothing else.

"I don't understand why you can't say all of it? I don't understand why I have to do one thing and not the other. I am not going to be told how to greet people," she explained. "It's not a war, it's me trying to figure out what I want to do. You can't tell me what I should be doing, you can't tell me I'm at war with you because I'm not saying 'Merry Christmas.'"

She added that she's not saying other people can't say "Merry Christmas," before McCain said the entire conversation proved the "culture war" over the expression is "a real thing" and Trump is "brilliant" to use it to excite his base.

"He's brilliant, but it's a BS debate," Goldberg said. "It's a BS debate, I'm sorry!"

"It may be a BS debate, which is valid, but it's not a BS culture war issue and that's what we're talking about here," added McCain, before Hostin called the whole thing "fake news" and added that a war "takes two sides."

"Yeah, it's just Republicans that are always on the bad side, always doing it, we're the bad part of the war," McCain sarcastically responded.

Whoopi wasn't having it though, saying, "That's you saying that," before bringing the conversation to a close.